Catch Me if You Can
by Kermit's Rainbow Connection
Summary: One of the Doctor's enemies have taken a different approach to defeating him once and for all. With a psychopathic killer on loose after his companions and only 24 hours to find them all, will they survive? ON HIATUS.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey there! It's closing in on Christmas. I'm so excited for this upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special and I hope it lives up to everyone's expectations. Now on with the author's note. This is my first attempt at a chapter fic and it is certainly more dark themed than anything I have written for Doctor Who before (which is very few but still). By the way this takes place during the episode Power of Three. It's after when the Doctor goes nuts after watching the cubes in the Ponds' lounge for four days (which I personally thought was hilarious, anyhow) and leaves the Ponds for a couple of months. Well, on with the story and I hope you enjoy!**

**Prologue **

She creaked the door open slowly and with uncharacteristic caution, peeking into the meeting. She was noticed very easily by this council or whatever organization these members belonged to.

"Subject 18," a man at the head of the table, probably the leader, addressed her in a cool manner and announced her title to the board members, "this is our solution." Subject 18 had no name. If she had had one, she had long forgotten it. She had to ease her nerves when she was dealing with creeps like these as to not show weakness. Weakness was failure.

"Solution? To what problem? My superiors did not inform me directly on this issue." she inquired with curiosity. He stood from his chair as though ready to give a long lecture. She hated those.

"I'm sure that you and everyone else at this table are familiar with the man known as Doctor. The time lord who has accessibility to a multi-dimensional time traveling spaceship or known simply as a TARDIS. His antics have disrupted time streams and the flow of hundreds of civilizations. Societies are on the brink of collapse because of him! These actions have been noted by a religious order called the Silence and they have tried several times to eliminate him. They were the most successful group of aliens to match him yet fate was not kind on their part. Other notorious races and tribes have made efforts only to fail in the process. We observed him first when he tried to hack into our data core and delete all records on himself, to make him invisible. His efforts were pointless and we easily tracked his signal, but he got away in that blasted spaceship of his! We, the justice association known as the True Elite, have decided take a new approach to our target. By killing other targets."

Bewildered by this speech she questioned, "You hired me… to be the assassin who kills the Doctor? And what's this about other targets?" The man slid various files down the table and she grabbed them gazing at them in confusion. Inside was average, every day human beings who they were interested in her murdering. Some names she glanced at like Mickey Smith, Rory Williams, Martha Smith-Jones, Amelia Williams, and so forth.

The man then slid a binder. She picked it up and opened it to find eleven folders containing information she would rather not want to take the time to read, but she had to. Because contained inside was every Doctor, every one of his adventures accountable for, every one of the companions he traveled with, with each of his faces. Yes, Subject 18 had heard of the Doctor before and hadn't cared enough to look into him and research. Now she was interested.

"We have studied the Doctor thoroughly and found the one weakness that shall lead to his downfall. The Doctor has been known for all his life to be an emotional, sentimental old man especially with the people he cares about. He has never been able to recover when he losses someone. So with that in mind, we want you to kill his friends. If so many of his companions die we would like to think the Doctor will dig a bigger hole than he can climb out of. He would be in such a depressed state that he would stop his adventuring altogether and give up his futile methods of saving the worlds and the universe and stop getting involved in places and events that cannot be fixed."

"So, I break his spirit." she chuckled to herself and then asked, "What's my prize then? For killing the oh so powerful Doctor?"

"Since you are property to the government technically, you will receive no pay. However your facility will collect a generous payment from us." With this response she stood from her chair and made for the door.

The man halted and cried, "Wait!" She spun on heels to face him. She requested,

"Why? Why did you select me as your candidate? If you have read my file then you know that some call me a renegade rather than a proper assassin. And I deal with targets that are guilty. Criminals, mobs, war lords-" He then snapped,

"He is a war lord! His tiny actions of kindness toward alien races as some might say do not amount to the crimes he's committed! He's destroyed whole civilizations, planets because he believes that is the only solution to problems! The Doctor must be stopped. It has been far too long since anyone has done anything about the matter." his elevated temper seemed to at that point decrease and he continued onward, "Yes you are right about how we know you are more… defiant when at your work but that is the only way the Doctor will be stopped. We need someone as conniving as him who will think not even at but above his level of intelligence."

"So you want a duplicate. Someone who is the Doctor but controlled. Controlled I am but for me ferocity is its counterpart. Are you prepared to deal with that? "

The other board members exchanged apprehensive glances at one another but stayed silent. She observed the leader twitching his eye brows, probably having second guessing about his choice. But she still had a grin plastered on her face and within seconds she knew exactly what his decision was.

"Like I mentioned before, I am not cheap or easy to please. If I'm taking down the Doctor I'm going to need some more equipment and incentive."

"You are not killing the Doctor in any physical way though." One man at the table stated.

"No, but I assure you if his companions are so valuable to him, he will go looking for them. That's why I need to be undetectable. And about my payment?" she gave a sly smirk and the leader snapped his fingers and in came his servants. They brought many bags with them and other small pouches.

"In the large bags you should be able to find everything to great worth. In the smaller pouches are your rewards. Some contain diamonds, gold, silver, rubies, and other precious metals but we did not think that that would completely satisfy you." He picked up one of the pouches and extended his hand inside and pulled a shiny item out.

"A warp star." She breathed in amazement.

"We snagged it off a foolish time agent who was gallivanting with a vortex manipulator when he landed in the Dalek invasion of 2008 and grabbed this. We caught him red-handed with it and it has been in our possession ever since. I think this all meets your standards." He gestured to all the bags packed among the room.

"I believe so." She hid her surprise from everyone, for she hadn't expected a bounty such as this. Really she hadn't needed or wanted most of the objects except for a selected few but it always shocked her how she could manipulate other people to do her will. These people were desperate.

For the second time she tried to make her leave but was yet again interrupted in the process. She was getting a little aggravated and impatient. The leader came over and handed her an object for which she recognized as a vortex manipulator.

"You'll need it for transport. Do not fail your mission." With that she was dismissed from the debriefing and headed down the hall. She overheard a bit of the council's conversation as she left.

"Do you think we can trust her?"

"I'm not too sure. Should we keep surveillance?"

"Perhaps. Occasionally just to check in with her progress."

Her expression was replaced with a bitter frown and she searched the bags and every possible place they could have bugged her after she vacated the building. She glanced at the tip of the warp star she wore around her neck and sighed. There, with the help of a magnifying glass, was a tiny bug. She couldn't tear it off and it was too difficult to accomplish with the size of it.

"It's a shame. That could've made a damn good explosion." She typed in coordinates into her new vortex manipulator and set it to a barren wasteland abandoned for centuries. Before she activated the explosion from the warp star she gazed and spoke into the bug attached to the warp star.

"You're clever. I'll give you that. But being as polite as possible at my employers who rigged me, I do not require supervision or anymore assistance on your part. _Have a nice day._" she spoke the last part of her declaration through her clenched teeth.

She appeared in an another location, a common café on Earth to extensively study the files she was given. These people, generic people, were her targets of murder. Never had her assignments ever been so dull before. It was too easy.

Right now this task of hers was a tedious game of checkers when it had the potential to become so much more like an elaborate game of chess. With a wicked gleam in her eye and a mischievous smile she purred down to the picture of the Doctor,

"Catch me if you can."

**I'll try and update this as frequently as possible, luckily my Christmas break just started. I'll reveal a lot more about Subject 18 and her plans the Doctor and his companions later though. Hope you guys can wait until then. Until then, happy holidays and please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello! I hope everyone is enjoying their breaks like I am. But I just wanted to let you guys know that this chapter will take place from the River's point of view, there's probably not going to be much more in the story from the point of view of Subject 18 but she will be a very important character in this as you can imagine. **

**Chapter One **

River glanced from the book she was reading and asked,

"Do you grow tired soldier?" The man guarding her cell turned to face her and answered,

"No, ma'am." She set the book down and strode from her bed to the bars of her cell. It was far too boring here in Stormcage and she needed more excitement. More specifically, she needed her husband. He walked back and forth endlessly so the hallucinogenic lipstick wouldn't work.

"Are you new here? I've never seen you here before."

He responded, "No, I was moved to a different section of the building. They promoted me."

"I see. Do you know why you have to be a certain rank for this position? Or why so many guards fail at this job?"

"My superiors say you have a reputation." She chuckled to herself and chattered on,

"It's so nice they can make such a compliment about me. Although, everyone starts from the bottom and then they rise to the top. Tell me how you started. There's really nothing better to do."

He started babbling on, stilling moving back and forth but he was closer to cell, probably because he thought she actually wanted to listen. The keys were dangling carelessly from his waist. She reached slowly through the bars and snatched them without a sound. At that precise moment he turned around and she almost thought she had been caught and she hid the keys behind her back.

"But then I met Scarlet. Funny, smart too. Everything I ever wanted. The girl of my dreams." He spoke this with sincere fondness but it took River all her might not to roll her eyes at the sappy speech. He then returned to his pacing and River breathed with relief. She placed the key into the slot and pushed the door only an inch to see if it had worked. Luckily, the guard was still oblivious to all of this and she was amazed at how anyone could become that distracted.

A noise, a beautiful noise she had longed to hear then filled her ears and drowned out the ramblings of the prison guard. He then spun around to locate the source of the noise to only find a blue police box an inch away from his face. He shouted at her,

"What is that thing?! You brought it here, didn't you! I'm calling for backup right—"

The doors of the TARDIS swung open with such enthusiasm it knocked the guard off his feet and he fell unconscious from the great force. The Doctor stood in the doorway, cocksure. He then saw the cell door open and frowned with a bit of disappointment.

"What's the matter?" she inquired.

"Well it's just that I had this whole escape plan thought up but I guess it wouldn't do much good now. By the way, how did you take the guard out?"

She smirked and replied, "_I_ didn't."

"What? Of course you did, if you didn't he would be standing right here." He then looked unsurely to his left and saw the unconscious guard several feet away from the TARDIS. "Oh dear. Was that really me?"

"Yes sweetie. As for an entrance though, I thought you were rather good." She strolled out the doors of her cell and firmly grasped the Doctor's bowtie and led him into the spaceship, shutting the blue police box doors.

"What about the guard? We can't just leave him there!" the Doctor cried indignantly.

"The janitors will find him eventually. Now where to next? Barcelona? Or how about Augea? It's a great site for archeology and practically mirrors the ideals of Ancient Greece and Rome." River was dissatisfied at his response when he scoffed and muttered,

"Archeologist."

"Then what do you have in mind?" she questioned irritably.

"Well I was thinking of visiting your parents actually. I know you haven't seen them in a while and…"

"And what?"

"Well I had to maintain sanity otherwise I would've have lost it all! A quick jaunt is what I'd promised them and now that that's done I have go back. There's been no activity with the cubes at all and it's been driving me mad." River observed the lines etched on his face and could tell there had been many restless nights and excessive worrying that he had endured through. By himself.

"How long has it been?" she asked not above a whisper.

"Five months." She took his hands and wrapped them in her own.

"I've missed them too. Now I should fly the TARDIS this time so we don't get lost in the vortex." River knew this would start a fuss from him and it lightened her mood when her husband started to defend his unreliable driving skills. She started up the stairs to the console and he followed by her side nagging her with petty excuses for his crash courses which she just laughed at while flicking switches here and there.

"And I'll tell you what, I've been flying her for hundreds of years more than you and she hasn't fussed about it a single bit. Have you old girl?" The TARDIS groaned a bit remembering the constant annoyances of being thrashed around in the time vortex but deep down she appreciated the reckless driving to some extent.

"The last time I saw Amy she said you had dropped an Ood off at their house."

"I was trying to get him back to the Ood Sphere but he sort of wandered off when I wasn't looking. I got him back eventually, that's all that matters!"

The TARDIS hummed to notify that they had arrived since River had used the blue stabilizers, but it wasn't as pleasant but rather it sounded low and dreary. The Doctor immediately dashed towards the console and stroked it several times, glancing at the monitor to check for any strange readings.

"What's wrong old girl? We didn't land in the wrong place or time so what is it?"

River opened the doors to check whether there was no alien threat outside. To her disappointment there wasn't which meant if they were at her parents' house, what was wrong?

She stepped out in the back garden, heading towards the patio doors. The Doctor, noticing she had vacated her presence from the gloomy spaceship quickly hurried after her trail. She did not even hear a sound utter from any section of the house, and at that point she started to panic. She explored the rooms searching any possible place they could be, and as she did her worst fears popped into her head and wouldn't stop flashing before her eyes. River sprinted down the stairs and rushed towards the telephone. She searched through the contacts and found one of Rory's co-workers, his friend Ranjit he had told her about before. She dialed the number and waited impatiently for the line to pick up.

"_Hello? Rory, is that you? You missed your shift today, where are you?"_

Her hopes sank farther than she could have imagined and it took her a couple of minutes before she could collect herself and try to answer calmly,

"No, sorry. I must have dialed the wrong number." She placed the phone down slowly and painstakingly gazed at her husband and stated tearfully,

"They're gone."

**Cliffhanger! I'm going to stop there for now though. Where are Amy and Rory? And what happened to them? You'll find out… eventually. With that I hope you all have a great Christmas Eve and please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm just going to dive right in with the chapter since I left the last one on a cliffhanger. Hope you enjoy! **

**Chapter Two**

The Doctor stared at her unblinking, piercing right through her soul, and it was killing her to watch. He then started pacing around the room, examining objects and checking under tables and in cabinets as though that would lead to some sort of clue as to their disappearance while River reported her findings.

"Doctor, I searched everywhere. I even called Rory's workplace; he didn't even show up for work! It's probably the same case for Amy as well, even though I haven't checked. There's no sign of a break in of any kind." He then turned to face her; a growing fear, anger, and panic evidently marked on his brow.

He snapped at her, "Well you didn't really search everywhere did you? You could've checked with Amy's workplace or called some of their neighbors or friends or whatever to see if they had seen some suspicious activity; but you didn't, did you?!" River placed a hand over her mouth speechless from experiencing the full front assault of words flung right at her. He then realized the errors of his ways and rushed to her side, clutching her arms repeatedly murmuring into her ear,

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

She whispered, "I know you are. I understand." River then asserted both herself and the Doctor, "But this is no time to get panicked. We have to remain level headed if we want to find Amy and Rory, if they are missing at all." Her fingers entwined with his and she led him gently back to the TARDIS. The question was: where would they start?

He started to trail after her, but soon retraced his steps back to the house obviously taking interest in something else. He spun around the room randomly and clapped his hands together in the way he would when he had made a discovery. She inquired,

"What did you find?"

"You said this place was spotless and you were right. There's no damage done or evidence that another person was even here except," he picked up the remote, turning on the television scrolling through numerous channels, "this. You see every live feed is out there reporting about the cubes. News shows, documentaries, _twitter_, even reality TV for those who watch it. And in every single house, cubes are lying about. So, why aren't they here?" Her eyes zigzagged around the room now noticing the lack the small, black cubes she had just witnessed on the television.

This matter was soon interrupted however when a ringtone announced its presence in the console room and the Doctor hurried towards the source of the noise, which was not the black telephone sitting in its place but rather a 21st century cellphone. She would like to have scolded him on the spot for not telling her that contacting him did not require embedding the oldest cliff face, but she felt that moment was not the right time to do so. He snapped the cover of the flip phone open and queried,

"Martha?" River recalled the name from when the Doctor had felt comfortable enough to mention his past companions with her, which didn't happen often. The Doctor never really liked looking back, but he would always remember them.

"Oh it's you Kate. Look now's not really the time to chat… oh. Yes, I'll be there right now." River eyed him curiously, confused since she only heard the bits uttered by her husband.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"UNIT." he answered impatiently, probably not in the mood for speaking to anyone.

The TARDIS groaned its wheezing sound signifying they had landed at their destination. The Doctor swiftly scampered out of his box, River tagging along behind puzzled as to how or why UNIT could help in their investigation. A woman approached them at the doorway.

"Hello Doctor. I am Captain Magambo, we've met before in your previous incarnation. May I say sir that it is an honor to be working alongside you once again." She raised her hand to her forehead, but quickly lowered it when the Doctor gave her a small scowl.

"Ah, yes. I remember now. I don't think London police will forget the swarm of alien parasites who tried to eat Earth by escaping through a black hole or the convict who flew a double decker bus across the night skyline afterward. And please don't salute. Just don't. So where is the scientific advisor?"

A voice called, "Right here. I need you to watch this. It's urgent." Kate grabbed the Doctor's arm tightly and dragged him sharply into the building and down a flight of steps; the captain and River hastening to keep up. They turned a corner to find what seemed to be Kate's office. She scurried over to the computer screen and adjusted it so they could all view the footage that appeared on the screen. The paused image was of Brian holding a cube in front of his web camera.

"We received this this morning. Brian has been sending us reports about the cubes daily, but this recording—" Kate hesitated to continue and decided not to all as she pressed the button to play the message.

_"Brain's log, day one hundred and seven. There is still no movement with the cubes or change in appearance. The cube was quiet continually throughout the day as per usual and there was no change in size."_ Then in an instant on the screen, Brian winced and afterwards seemed dazed and not focused as he gazed into his web camera. _"Nooooo change innnnn entry." _he slurred and drew out these words. He stretched his hand to the side of his neck and pulled out a dart of some kind. He made to move from his chair, but only stumbled over it and fell over with a thud. A period of silence followed not only in the lounge in the recording but also in the advisor's office. River feared the worst for her grandfather and risked to glance at her husband who was staring intensely at the video, his knuckles a clear white from clenching his fist so tight. An unfamiliar face then popped onto the screen scaring the daylights out of everyone in the room. She was a relatively young woman with black hair tied back into a messy bun. Her eyes were a dark blue and from what River could tell she was rather pale. Though she had a mad, enthusiastic expression plastered on her face and while that was an expression she fondly knew her husband to wear, this smile seemed to speak more wicked intentions.

She exclaimed, _"Hello! I hope I'm speaking to the Doctor here and if I'm not I should like whoever is watching this to replay this for him because it is vital, especially for him." _The Doctor drew nearer after this non-descriptive greeting towards which left him quite inquisitive on his behalf. _"And don't worry about Brian. Well, yet. The dart only contains a sedative that will knock him out for a couple of hours. At this point in time you've probably discovered to your knowledge that at least one of your friends is missing, yet there is no trace to their disappearance. The cause of that would be me!" _she squealed and gleamed in a sick delight and progressed with her speech, _"Congratulations, you've just met the assassin hired to kill your companions! Long story short, you have exactly twenty hours to find your missing companions whom I have conveniently scattered across the planet in completely different areas and time zones. Those you do not find, if you should find any, shall be brutally murdered by yours truly. Your time starts now; the timer will start the first time this video is activated. And no I will not tell you which of the people you know are missing, you'll just have to figure that out by yourself. But from what I've heard from the legends nothing is unmanageable for the acclaimed Doctor, the Oncoming Storm, the Destroyer of Worlds. So tell me Defender of the Earth, who will defend your friends from the dangers of your beloved planet? Will you succeed this impossible challenge, this goose chase I'm sending you on for your friends? I certainly entertained by just reading the file provided so generously by my employers, you're quite the character. Let's see how you fare against this obstacle. I often enjoy reciting poems or riddles, so let's see if you know this one: _

_Tick tock goes the clock_

_And what then shall we see?_

_Tick tock until the hour_

_That thou shalt meet me_

_Tick tock goes the clock_

_And what now shall we play?_

_Tick tock goes the clock_

_Now Autumn's gone away?_

_Tick tock goes the clock_

_And all the years they've gone by_

_Tick tock and all too soon_

_You and they will surely die."_

She cackled, a most sinister cackle and it echoed off the walls and filled them only with disparity and distraught at this display of enjoyment at this sick challenge. It was hopeless.

**Guess who the crazy, homicidal manic is? The true side of Subject 18 has been revealed not only to you but the Doctor. How will the Doctor fare against her and her impossible quest? And what's up with the lack of cubes in the Ponds' house? It'll all be explained at some point. I hope my slightly edited version of Tick Tock Goes the Clock didn't suck too much. By the way, Captain Magambo is an actual character in the series and is in Planet of the Dead. It's a pretty good special, but I was just making sure you got that reference since they don't actually address her by her name in the special. Speaking of Doctor Who specials, let me know what you thought about the Snowmen! I thought it was really cute and funny personally. I hope you guys enjoyed it, and please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! It's the beginning of a new year! Crazy, isn't it? By the way the point of view will switch halfway through the chapter. Also in the chapter beforehand Subject 18 was supposed to say 24 hours not just twenty. Sorry about the typing error. Anyway on with the chapter! **

**Chapter Three **

With that her face froze on the screen; _that_ face immortalized in the minds of everyone in the room. River hadn't dared to look at her husband knowing well of the anger boiling over inside of her, but the Doctor's fury must have been that intensified a hundred times more. She decided to break the silence in the room by asking the captain,

"Have you checked who is missing yet since you have viewed this before?"

"Yes. So far the list includes Brian Williams, Mickey Smith, Martha Smith-Jones, Amy Williams, Rory Williams, Wilfred Mott, Donna Temple-Noble, and Sarah Jane Smith."

The Doctor quizzed, "What about Harkness?"

"Oh Doc, I'm so glad you're so concerned about me." A voice remarked from the doorway, arrogantly. They spun around and for the first time River observed the immortal man her husband had warned so often about never to go near, for he had theorized the fabric of the universe would somehow tear from them meeting. Oh how he embellished. Kate walked over to him and ushered him into a seat.

"I thought you might've been taken too."

"There was no need for her too." the Doctor answered.

"What?" Captain Magambo asked.

"Jack's immortal. There's no way that she could kill him permanently. Therefore, there was no use in capturing him."

Jack stood up from his seat and strode over to the Doctor. River hadn't even realized that before this point that the Captain had never met this incarnation of the Doctor. His eyes wandered over her husband, and if it had been anyone else doing this River would have personally smacked them although she was too intrigued by his character. The Doctor was the first to converse.

"Hello Jack."

"I wasn't sure it was you, you look completely different."

"Jack, that's kind of what regeneration entails. You know that, don't be stupid."

"I mean the wardrobe not your face, I know about that. Although speaking about your face, it turned out pretty well this time. Well, maybe not the chin. As for the wardrobe though: I like it. It's amusing."

The Doctor cried indignantly, "What's so funny about the way I look? And what's wrong about my chin?" He gazed down at his tweed jacket and bowtie straightened them ever so slightly, scratching at his chin all the while.

"Doctor, the bowtie? Anyway, I haven't seen you in three years!" The Doctor then stared sheepishly at the floor only to look up to his old comrade and admit,

"Yeah. That's been my fault. Sorry. Well at least it wasn't a hundred years this time, was it?" he confessed in an awkward manner chuckling gawkily and then proceeding to cough in an unnecessarily loud manner into his sleeve.

"We've haven't been able to find any of the companions yet but we received this link attached to the video." Kate announced as she clicked on the link. "They are coordinates jumbled together so it was unrecognizable at first, but I mixed them together and got a match."

The Doctor inquired, "Where?"

"McDurbin's Pub. It isn't in a different time zone than our own so it's safe to assume that it's her."

"Why hasn't anyone gone yet?" River questioned.

"We're dealing with a psychotic killer. If we send the dogs out, she could have hostages from the bar already. There are many other worst case scenarios along with that too, so we need someone who can blend in—"

The Doctor cut Kate off midspeech and proposed, "I'll go."

"This is too personal with you. And no offense sweetie to the outfit, but you won't blend into a bar wearing that." River concluded, shooting down her husband's idea in the process, but it was the right thing to do. River could see clearly where the Doctor could not; that he was being targeted too. His friends being missing could just be a lure, and that would only end up with him being hurt in the end.

"Yes she is right; the Doctor was not the man I had in mind for bringing this woman in." Kate stated and with that her eyes trailed across the room and landed right on Captain Jack Harkness. And with that movement everyone else's eyes followed too.

He just grinned in response and remarked, "Well, I could always use a drink."

OoO

Kate sat at the chair at her desk, instructing and giving an overview of Jack's mission to him. He was, to be frank, quite bored with the lecture and just wanted his friends back.

"I'm going to need some kind of transport. Just in case things don't work out at the pub." Jack mentioned. He heard the Doctor sigh from the corner quite exasperatingly so.

The Doctor groaned, "Alright. I'm _really_ going to regret this." he snatched the vortex manipulator Jack stored in his bag and whipped out the sonic, and it made the irritating whirring sound it always emitted, and placed it around Jack's wrist. "This is a one time deal. I don't need to catch you gallivanting about the universe without any sort of caution or rules."

"The same could be said to you." Jack retorted. The Doctor looked up, naïve to this sort of treatment or play of words. Jack then felt apologetic when the Doctor's face fell, and he only knew that he had just dropped another heavy burden on the alien's mind.

He started, "I'm sorry Doc—"

"Look, you don't have to apologize, just go! We've wasted enough time." Jack shot a glance over at the timer on Kate's screen. _23 hours and 20 minutes. _He understood his friend's point.

"Alright, I'm going to bring her in. Wish me luck." Jack typed the coordinates into the vortex manipulator and vanished too soon to hear the faint reply from the Time Lord,

"Good luck."

OoO

Jack appeared outside the bar; he thought it best so not to draw attention to him. While he feared he might frighten people for just popping in without any explanation, he also didn't want to blow his cover. He strolled through the doors and couldn't help but let his thoughts wander to all these _very_ attractive men and women, but he soon mentally slapped himself for being distracted during his mission.

He ambled towards a seat at the bar and requested, "Scotch. On the rocks." Really if he was to maintain his disguise he had to buy a drink, nobody would walk into a bar and never even order a shot. Jack knew Kate and all the others would disapprove, but they never had to know. He was surprised when the order came so quickly, and while he took a sip he pulled out a picture of the woman that had been copied from the image on the recording.

He questioned, "Have you seen this woman in here?" and slid the photograph across the counter. The bartender's back was turned the whole time really; she only whipped around a second to hand him his drink, and spun around again never revealing her face. A little odd behavior to be sure, but this place was only part of the collection of what would be considered by most the sketchy dwellings and some people weren't really on their rockers. Her hair was a bright blonde and from scanning her she seemed rather slim. It was a shame he was here on business matters only. Her hand glided across the countertop and snagged the photograph from his fingertips before he could hand it to her. She twisted and turned it through her fingers in all directions gazing at it for prolonged amount of time. She finally set it down and Jack decided to empty most of the contents of his drink and waited for an answer.

She answered in a familiar voice, "Yes. Yes, I should think I had. _Captain_." He was perplexed by this response but before he could ask her to interpret for him what she had meant or how she knew his identity, an unbearable pain coursed through body like a wildfire; he could feel it in his veins, withering him and numbing his muscles. He struggled to stand up, just desiring to bolt to the entrance when he realized that he had his vortex manipulator with him. From the effort to leave his position from the chair, he stumbled and collapsed onto the floor. His hand tried to reach the device, but the blonde bartender slid over the counter too soon and seized it from his wrist. It hurt too much to even move in any way, as though he was slowly being paralyzed. She apprehended the gun from his waist and fired a couple rounds at the ceiling, a warning for the customers to leave while they still could. They certainly understood the message, and without hesitation the bar was vacated of all its occupants other than Jack and the now established crazy bartender.

"Surprise, surprise. It's me!" she exclaimed and threw the blonde wig off her head to expose the black hair that was concealed underneath. How could he have not noticed? He stepped right into one of the simplest of traps in the world. He clutched his chest tightly, an attempt to ease the agony.

"So we meet at last Mr. Harkness. Is it alright if I address you in a manner so formal? I often find it tenses my victims up before I kill them, and I do _love_ to see them squirm before they die so pathetically. Oh humans; always clinging to the strands of life with every fiber of their beings. Nothing you haven't experienced before, to my knowledge?" She roamed around the room and towed a chair right next to where he lay, and seemed to be observing him in a comfortable fashion. His throat was burning; his temperature was elevating rapidly until finally he would shut down altogether.

"How long… will it last?" he croaked in a hoarse voice. He knew his time was short. Though he didn't know why she was doing this. Couldn't she see it didn't matter how many she killed him, he would still always _live_.

She replied nonchalantly, "You have less than ten minutes. I slipped a rare snake venom into your drink. I used the best of my inventory; you should be honored."

"Are you always so…. proud of your killings?" he wheezed. His throat would only rise to higher and higher temperatures, and it was such an effort now to converse at all.

"Of course! I'm an assassin, why should I not be pleased when I fulfill my assignments? Don't all people want to succeed in their occupations?" she countered with a sneer.

"Why? Why are you killing me? You know that I'm immortal, right?" he asked in a whisper.

"Yes I very well know of your eternal status among the living. But soon even that will come to an end. You know, they didn't assign me to kill you; this is all just for fun. It's so shocking though. I never really thought I would find a man so resilient to poison; most people would be dead by now. Why do you not welcome death?"

"I have. To help." he grumbled now through clenched teeth.

"Oh. I see now. You do not want to fail your mission that you were sent on just as I do not want to. Do you ask me to pity you? Would you beg on your knees to acquire the antidote for the poison contained in this vial?" She reached into her pocket and pulled out a vial, which enclosed inside was a purple liquid.

"Never." She smirked at him roguishly.

"Impressive. You are cleverer than I thought you to be before. It's just another dosage of the poison. So many people are so _thick_ and fall for it. But you aren't really just _people_, are you?" she queried.

Jack ignored her inquiry. He knew there was less than a minute now. He was used to death; he had met it on many occasions. In most cases he would die quickly; like he would be shot in the head, or a dalek would blast its laser at him, or he would be pushed off a building. But he felt he had never endured this kind of torture before. The poison was in his system for only ten minutes, yet he was convinced that the pain had lingered for much longer. Then why was he scared to die? Maybe it was because he knew that if he died right here, so would Martha and Mickey and Sarah Jane Smith and Donna and even her grandfather he hardly had met. Only they wouldn't live like he did. He remembered when he had met the Doctor's tenth incarnation and they had landed on Utopia. The Doctor asked him whether he wanted to die. He still had no clue how to answer that question. He groaned a little bit involuntary, not able to keep all the pain inside.

"_Hush_, now." she purred while stroking his hair. "You just have to die. It happens to everyone, especially you. Soon the Miracle will arise once more among the living, if it is any comfort."

"How," he chuckled bitterly, "am I supposed to feel any comforts?" He then proceeded to erupt into coughing fits. He couldn't resist it anymore. He succumbed to the urge to let his eyelids droop, his tensed muscles relaxed, and his labored breathes came to an end. Death was approaching. In the back of his mind he heard her voice, could only stare at her face etched into his eyes, and still sensed those fingers tangled in his hair. She persisted to nag him, taunt him, and haunt him even when he was the dead man. Though two words, two words seemed to pop into his head and alarm him because they were her words, a reminder to him.

_"Wakey, wakey." _

**Yeah, so I hope that wasn't too dark. A little bit of Jackwhump! I hope that you have been picking up subtle clues from the chapters to figure out who Subject 18 is. I'll try and update as frequently as possible, but in the meantime hope you guys enjoyed it and please review! **


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